Ann Marie Bartoo, left, and Anna Varian. Contributed image

A community fundraising initiative has erased the more than $1,275 of student lunch debt at Phippsburg Elementary School.

After speaking with Phippsburg Elementary kitchen manager Anna Varian in December regarding lunch debt, incurred when a student cannot pay for their meals, Bartoo said she “wrote a letter explaining the situation to my friends and neighbors, who shared it with their friends and neighbors.”

“Our students had $1,275 in debt on their meal account,” said Varian. “Ann Marie and her friends wound up raising $3,360 and paid off the entire amount.”

Varian uses the extra funds to expand nutrition-related initiatives at the school. So far, she has put an extra serving of fruit and vegetables in the school’s breakfast bags, purchased educational literature and nutrition books, and sourced exotic fruit for students to sample during “Eat the Rainbow” week.

“They (Bartoo and the other donators) don’t know how much they are doing for these kids and how it will benefit them down the road,” said Varian. “Kids need fuel for their brains and bodies. It’s the starting block of any day. At PES, we are serving breakfast and lunch to an average of 60-70% of onsite students every day.”

The donations are in the school’s Grandmother Fund, which was created through funds donated by Phippsburg community members. Additional donations can be made by contacting the school at (207) 389-1514 and making a donation to “Anna’s Food.”

According to Bartoo, 40% or more of the students at Phippsburg Elementary are food insecure and rely on the breakfast and lunch program to provide nutrition.

The USDA’s Modified Summer Food Service Program is providing meals to students at no charge throughout the entire 2020-2021 school year but did not address past debt.

The school also receives other donations from the Backpack Program, Merrymeeting Gleaners, local gardens and growers, and cases of organic lettuce from Springworks in Lisbon.

Bartoo said she hopes to keep up with and contribute to the needs of the meal program at the school, and ultimately explore ways in which food insecurity can be addressed in the community.